London - It is said that 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery' but
in the fashion industry there is a fine line between imitation and flat out
copying someone else's design. Accusations of design plagiarism and theft are
certainly nothing new in fashion, but Indian designer and graphic artist
Orijit Sen, co-founder of sustainable fashion label People Tree, has made
the global headlines after accusing luxury fashion house Dior of copying
his design.

Sen, who says he first created his Yogi block print design of a man in
several poses in 2000, was shocked when he saw Bollywood actress Sonam
Kapoor gracing the cover of Elle India January Issue in a Dior Resort '18
dress. The dress design, which features lotus flowers and a man in
different yoga poses bears a striking resemblance to Sen's original design.
The Indian designer has shared images of his design and textiles for People
tree next to Dior's design on social media and is calling on the luxury
fashion house to acknowledge it stole his work.

"It's so disheartening when a huge brand doesn't have respect for small
businesses and artists that struggle their whole lives to sustain
themselves through creativity," wrote Sen in a post. "It's such a shame
that they are disrespectful enough to blatantly copy us." The designer also
argues that despite Dior's "massive resources," they still chose to rip off
the design from independent Indian designers, artists and craftspeople.

Dior has yet to respond to the accusations made by Sen as it remains
unclear if Dior knowingly plagiarised the designer's work or not. Designers
at Dior working under Maria Grazia Chiuri could have either been aware of
the existing textile design and used it as a literal source of inspiration
to create their own textile, or the textile could have been sourced
pre-made from another supplier.

Since Sen has made his accusations publicly know a number of independent
designers, brands and communities have shown their support. People Tree,
which works with a collective of designers in India, is a small sustainable
brand that blockprints its own textiles by hand, supporting local artisans.
At the moment intellectual property laws remain minimal in India in
comparison to other Western European countries. However, over the past year
more and more discussions concerning intellectual property in the Indian
fashion industry have emerged.